News

With the low 4.1% unemployment rate making it tougher for employers to hire and retain workers, more are bringing on Americans with disabilities who had long struggled to find jobs. “There’s a growing cadre of companies that look at people with disabilities as an untapped talent pool,” says Carol Glazer of the National Organization on Disability. “When people spend their entire lives solving problems in a world that wasn’t built for them, that’s an attribute that can be translated into high productivity in the workforce.”

Rights for Americans with disabilities are under attack in a bill disguised as reform of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “Everyone is just one bad day away from needing accessible options the #ADA requires to help them get around,” tweeted Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

NOD Chairman Gov. Tom Ridge opposed H.R. 620 saying “A business that did not comply would face no consequence until after it received a legal notice from a person with a disability who was harmed, detailing the specific violation of the law.”

Five major Boston-area employers have joined a new pilot program. Campus to Careers aims to place more qualified students with disabilities into meaningful careers. The Coca-Cola Foundation provided a $400,000 lead grant to kick-start the innovative, three-year pilot program.

Council members support NOD’s mission to expand meaningful employment opportunities for the 24 million worked-aged Americans with disabilities who are not employed, by committing to advance disability inclusion efforts in their workplaces. These prominent brands bring the total membership to nearly 55 top businesses.

By Gov. Tom Ridge, Chair of NOD | Twenty-eight years after the ADA was passed, it is unacceptable to roll back the civil rights of people with disabilities. We should ensure access, not progress. We should expect businesses to know and comply with their obligations, not require our neighbors and colleagues with disabilities to shoulder the burden of informing and educating businesses about those obligations. We should not turn the simple business of everyday life into a complex and lengthy ordeal for people with disabilities.

Douglas Conant is an internationally renowned business leader with over 20 years of senior-level experience at world-class companies. NOD recently sat down with Doug to find out what drives his passion for leadership, the future of talent, and why companies should embrace people with disabilities in the workplace.

CNN Money highlights NOD Corporate Leadership Council member EY for their innovative approach to solving talent shortages by recruiting people with disabilities: Lori Golden said that EY believes it can produce better work by giving people with disabilities a seat at the table.

Accessible Olli was designed from the ground up to help people with disabilities get where they need to go. The nonprofit National Organization on Disability, which has been tracking the gaps between people with and without disabilities since the 1980s, said it’s found that transportation options are often lacking for people with disabilities, which results in severely limited job opportunities for them.

The 2017 NOD Disability Employment Tracker results reveal the practices of top companies to achieve a disability workforce representation of four percent or more. By National Organization on Disability / January 26, 2018 The 2018 Disability Employment Tracker™ is now open for enrollment. Complete the free and confidential survey by March 1, 2018 to receive a complimentary benchmarking […]

“Today, more than 80 percent of working age Americans with disabilities do not have employment,” says Ozzie Martinez, chief administrative officer at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center. Kaiser has partnered with the National Organization on Disability to create programs that make a difference in the lives of those with disabilities.

The United Nations sat down with NOD President Carol Glazer to discuss the progress of the disability rights movement since Alan Reich, NOD’s founder, first addressed the UN General Assembly from a wheelchair in 1981.

Ignoring mental health in your workplace can affect productivity and the bottom line 6 key takeaways from NOD’s Fall Corporate Leadership Council Roundtable On November 1st, the National Organization on Disability held our Corporate Leadership Council Fall Luncheon and Roundtable. Hosted at Sony’s New York offices, the event centered on the topic of mental health […]

A veterans’ hiring initiative can make a significant impact on your company’s bottom-line due to characteristics they offer from military training, like a solution-oriented approach, loyalty, and integrity, among others. However, studies have shown most veterans leave their first job upon returning to civilian life within two years. Employers can play a pivotal role in the reintegration process by creating a welcoming and supportive environment.

I know because it happened to me. Twenty-five years ago my first son, Jacob, was born with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. Doctors told us Jacob would grow up with both physical and intellectual disabilities. What those doctors didn’t tell me at the time was the emotional toll his illness would take on me. It’s a story all too familiar for parents of children with severe disabilities, yet many of us struggle in silence. This week I decided to share my story publicly for the first time at a mental health forum in New York.

Frankly, America’s colleges and universities would do well to examine what RIT and other leaders in career services are doing right, because many, if not most, are getting it wrong. Nationally, students with disabilities take twice as long to secure a job after graduation. And of the 1.4 million college students with disabilities, about 60-percent of them can expect to not find a job when they graduate. Talk about a harsh dose of reality for young people who simply want to contribute.

The National Organization on Disability reports “on average that 3.2% of their workforces are employees with disabilities.” The study’s authors attribute low disclosure rates to workers not realizing they can be considered to have a disability under the new federal guidelines. And, more intentionally, many employees with disabilities “are counseled by family, friends, even employment attorneys, to avoid disclosing their disabilities—for fear of discrimination and other negative repercussions.”

If you’re in the US, about 30 percent of college-educated employees working full time in white-collar jobs have some kind of disability under the federal definition that was expanded last year, a new study from the Center for Talent Innovation found. That’s almost one in three employees. That’s far more than the 3.2 percent that “self-identify” to employers tracked by the National Organization on Disability, according to the study, which the CTI said is the first of its kind.

Alicia “AJ” Petross is a leader in diversity and inclusion. As Senior Director Global Culture, Diversity and Inclusion, and Engagement at The Hershey Company, AJ has a track record of success in building trust throughout the organization and leading new and exciting approaches to diversity and inclusion. Because of Hershey’s exemplary employment practices for people with disabilities, the National Organization on Disability recently named the company a 2017 NOD Leading Disability Employer.

“To have a solution that isolates a person is not true inclusion,” Maryellen Reardon of Prudential Financial said at Inclusion by Design, NOD’s annual disability employment forum that attracted about 70 organizations. Her manager solved the problem by giving her an iPad with closed-captioning capability that could be used in the meeting room. Inclusive design is “the reality of what you as companies do for your customers,” said Carol Glazer, NOD president.

45 organizations recognized for demonstrating exemplary disability hiring and employment practices. This annual recognition is designed to applaud those organizations that are leading the way in disability hiring and to encourage additional companies to tap into the many benefits of hiring talent with disabilities, including strong consumer preference for companies that employ individuals with disabilities and greater employee engagement across the workforce.

“Disability etiquette and awareness training to all staff, especially managers, leaders and recruiters, is especially useful for team members who may be unsure of how to act around a person with a disability,” NOD President Glazer says. “Such training can go a long way to remove the fear and stigma that otherwise might lead to inaction or alienation.”

What’s worthy of note about this year’s ADA anniversary is that it falls on our anniversary. The National Organization on Disability turns 35 this year. NOD built our programs and our reputation in the 1980s, as the nationwide call for a new civil rights law to ensure the full equality of Americans with disabilities began to gain momentum….

“A number of gaps have been closing. Unemployment, unfortunately, is one thing that hasn’t improved appreciably since we started measuring.” said Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability….

The Tracker, which measured practices and outcomes of more than 175 companies that together employ 2.4 million American workers, reveals that companies with a higher than average representation of people with disabilities (4% or greater) share five key inclusion practices in common…..

Michele Meyer-Shipp is a diversity leader, who’s built a track record of success by using D&I strategies to drive business results at Prudential Financial. NOD recently sat down with Michele to find out what drives her passion for workplace inclusion—and learn more about her strategies for success….

Technology that is not accessible to individuals with disabilities comes at a high cost to companies. With digital technology overtaking traditional newspaper job listings and hard copy applications as the main interface between businesses and job seekers, companies that adopt accessible hiring technologies can gain a competitive edge in courting talent with disabilities….

Together with local partners in Boston, including Work Without Limits, a program of UMass Medical School, and lead support from The Coca-Cola Foundation, we are launching Campus to Careers, a pilot program to get these talented young men and women with disabilities started in rewarding professional careers…

NOD welcomes Laura Giovacco, Partner in the Financial Services Office of Ernst & Young LLP to its board of directors. In addition to lending her talents to the NOD board, Giovacco was instrumental in EY joining the National Organization on Disability’s Corporate Leadership Council at the President’s Circle level….

Gov. Tom Ridge, NOD’s Chairman, discusses his passion for disability employment on The CEO Show, sharing that in NOD’s work with leading companies like Starbucks, Walmart, “they’ve discovered that it’s not a matter of social responsibility or just meeting some kind of diversity requirement. [Individuals with disabilities] are good, solid, reliable, dependable, effective employees”….

In joining the National Organization on Disability (NOD) Corporate Leadership Council, prominent brands distinguish themselves as leaders in diversity and employers of choice for people with disabilities, while providing critical support for NOD’s mission to expand meaningful employment opportunities to the 20 million working aged Americans with disabilities. NOD President Carol Glazer is pleased to announce that 13 such companies joined the NOD Corporate Leadership Council in 2016, one of the largest classes of new members in NOD’s 35-year history….

In this newly debuted video, “Employing New Sources of Talent”, created by the F.B. Heron Foundation, NOD President Carol Glazer and Jacob Waltuck, an employee whose Autism enables him to excel at his job sit down for a candid discussion about how he contributes at work—and how the talents Americans with disabilities offer are proving to be a benefit to employers….

For more than thirty years, the National Organization on Disability (NOD) has been striving to increase job opportunities and economic self-sufficiency for the 29 million working aged Americans with disabilities. Much of our work involves connecting employers seeking to expand their diversity initiatives with work-ready candidates….

Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability (NOD) says, “We find anecdotally that disclosing a disability at work can free up a huge amount of ‘emotional real estate.’…Being one’s full self at work, by disclosing a disability at a disability-friendly employer, can increase productivity by increasing trust with co-workers, bosses and lessen the stress from hiding it.”

The roundtable provided a forum for businesses to share best practices, effective strategies, experiences and lessons learned [in disability employment and] … tapped into the knowledge and experience of corporate leaders who have demonstrated a commitment to opening the doors of opportunity and fostering a welcoming workplace.

In a country where most foundations don’t consider disability among their focus areas, for the leader of the nation’s second-largest philanthropy [Ford Foundation President Darren Walker] to acknowledge this gross oversight and to appreciate the need to be inclusive of people with disabilities, is a game-changing move for the people my organization represents and for our nation as a whole.

The National Organization on Disability (NOD) is pleased to welcome three prominent companies to its Corporate Leadership Council – a group of companies who distinguish themselves as leaders in diversity and employers of choice for people with disabilities. The Corporate Leadership Council welcomes Johnson & Johnson to the President’s Circle, as well as CSC and Mondelēz to its Corporate Circle.

Still today, 24 million working-age Americans with disabilities are not employed. The next step in our progress to realize the ADA is clear: ensure that people with disabilities enjoy full opportunity for employment, enterprise and earnings, and that employers know how to put their talents to work. For us at NOD, that means innovating scalable and sustainable disability employment models that marry the talent needs of corporate America with the skills of working-aged Americans with disabilities…

Our success in the global economy depends, more than ever, on how well we inspire and put to use the talent and energies of every person in this country – every talent, every skill, every ability. That is why the National Organization on Disability was created – to see to it that no ability is wasted, and that everyone has a full and equal chance to play a part in our national progress.

More than ever before, people with disabilities are present throughout American society—carrying on our daily lives as workers, consumers, students, neighbors and volunteers—and contributing greatly to our national and community life. But America still has a long way to go to close the gaps in levels of participation between people with and without disabilities. We can start by raising our expectations…

The National Organization on Disability today announced the 27 organizations that have been selected to receive the 2016 Leading Disability Employer Seal™. The Seal is a new effort by NOD to recognize companies that demonstrate exemplary hiring and employment practices for people with disabilities.

National Organization on Disability President Carol Glazer today welcomed Susan Meirs as the organization’s new Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining NOD, Meirs was a COO and salesperson at Barclays. Her team created Barclays’ first diversity related investment products, the Return on Disability ETN and the Women in Leadership ETN, translating corporate social responsibility into bottom-line results for investors.

Today, we know that workers with disabilities, given equal opportunity and appropriate tools or technologies, can perform as well as their non-disabled counterparts. Just ask employers like Lowe’s or Starbucks, outstanding companies that have partnered with the National Organization on Disability to find job opportunities for talented men and women with disabilities, and they’ll confirm this to be true.

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) partnered with Starbucks, the National Organization on Disability and the Crispus Attucks Association of York, to bring the [Inclusion Academy] program to York, PA. The six-week on-the-job program to help individuals with disabilities gain meaningful work experience in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution roles was introduced at the Starbucks Carson Valley Roasting Plant and Distribution Center in Nevada.

Carol Glazer, National Organization on Disability president, joined The Business of Giving host Denver Frederick for an in-depth discussion about employment of people with disabilities—and how NOD partners with leading employers and philanthropic institutions to create disability inclusion programs.

National Organization on Disability joined DiversityInc in celebrating the Top 50 Companies for Diversity. Carol Glazer, NOD president, was on stage to announce the Top 10 Companies for People with Disabilities…

Hamilton participated last month in a National Down Syndrome Society panel at the National Press Club in Washington. Moderated by society President Sara Hart Weir, the panel discussed employment opportunities for people with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Other members were U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who has a son with Down syndrome, and Tom Ridge, chairman of the National Organization on Disability, the former governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.

The National Organization on Disability today announced that Daryl Brewster has been elected to its Board of Directors. The unanimous vote came at NOD’s recent Board of Directors meeting. Mr. Brewster is CEO of CECP: The CEO Force for Good, a coalition of CEOs who believe that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance.

Did you hear who won the election in Illinois this week? No, not that election. I’m talking about the election for United States Senate. Representative Tammy Duckworth won Illinois’ Democratic Senate primary. She represents Chicago’s northwest suburbs and had been expected to easily defeat her opponent. She will face incumbent, Senator Mark Kirk, in the general election in November.

The National Organization on Disability today announced that Brad Hopton has been elected to its Board of Directors. The unanimous vote came at NOD’s Board of Directors meeting. Mr. Hopton is a Partner in Corporate Tax Advisory Services at PwC, where he helped to create the Ability Reveals Itself initiative that is helping to attract talented people with disabilities to the PwC workforce.

Prior to joining NOD, Moskowitz held positions including the Director of Marketing and Sales at Grant Thornton LLP, Americas Marketing Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s Financial Services practice (now PwC), as well as Head of Marketing & Strategic Planning at Bank Leumi USA…

One would be hard-pressed to find a group of people more obsessed with measurement than today’s Presidential candidates. Their lifeblood is polling data. Campaign courses are shifted; stump speeches re-written…

Peter Otto had no formal role with the National Organization on Disability. What he did have was a love for the organization and a deep respect for its mission. He was a volunteer in the best sense of the word.

At the National Organization on Disability (NOD), which advises corporate America on ways they can improve disability inclusion in their workforce, they too want to celebrate achievement. So they are borrowing a page from Hollywood and have decided to create their own award of sorts…

According to Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability (NOD), which works on increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities, complying with new regulations for Section 503 should be viewed as more of a “journey” than a destination…

National Organization on Disability (NOD) President Carol Glazer today announced a new effort to formally recognize companies that demonstrate exemplary hiring and employment practices for people with disabilities. Called the Disability…

In 2013, the Labor Department set a hiring goal for federal contractors that 7 percent of each job group in their workforces should be made up of qualified people with disabilities. As Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability noted: “Preventing discrimination and affirmative hiring are not one and the same.”

Since quotas are not legal, Carol Glazer, President of the National Organization on Disability, said that in order for federal contractors to move toward attaining the 7 percent goal they must be very aware of what they are doing and how they are doing it. Glazer suggests utilizing a system to track applicants and hires with disabilities. “You have to keep that on file,” said Glazer. “You have to assess your practices to see how you’re doing. And you have to invite people to self identify voluntarily…”

In the world of retail, copycat pricing is not unusual. When one retailer slashes prices, others are sure to follow. When it comes to hiring approaches, those of us in the business of finding employment opportunities…

Organizations that are welcoming disabled workers are certainly seeing the benefits. “Companies have found that people with disabilities have positive attributes that might not immediately come to mind,” says Carol Glazer, president of the National Organization on Disability. “It takes problem-solving skills, resilience, and sheer tenacity to navigate a world that isn’t necessarily built for you…

The National Organization on Disability today announced that Dr. Ronald L. Copeland has been elected to its Board of Directors. The unanimous vote came at NOD’s Board of Directors meeting. Dr. Copeland is Senior VP, National Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Policy & Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Kaiser Permanente, one of America’s leading health care providers.

When Carol Glazer visited Starbucks headquarters in Seattle last fall to meet graduates from a unique training program at the company’s roasting plant in Carson City, Nevada, she wasn’t surprised to see pride in the faces of those…

Is it just me, or do you also feel like it’s only a matter of time until an account gets hacked and all of your personal data stolen? Seemingly each week there’s another major company victimized by a cyber attack, exposing our social security numbers…

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law, but we still have a long way to go when it comes to properly supporting people living with disabilities. Though anti-discrimination laws like the ADA are more than needed to ensure opportunity and access for marginalized populations, even these laws can’t change our social views of disability.

Smart companies are always looking for new ways to find and retain talented employees. Often-overlooked prospects are people with disabilities. Just 19% of people with disabilities participate in the labor force (compared with over 68% of the rest of the population) and their unemployment rate is nearly 11%.

Twenty-two years ago, my first son Jacob was born with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. Because of that and a series of medical complications early in Jacob’s life, he is both physically and intellectually disabled, and like most parents, I have been his advocate since his birth. For me this included, at a certain point in my career, making the decision to redirect my efforts from civil rights to disability rights, which meant living disability 24/7. It was not an easy decision, but it was the best one I could have made. It has meant working with wonderful colleagues to help turn the wheel of progress for people like Jacob, so they have the lifetime opportunities they deserve and have every ability to fulfill.

As the leader of a national organization focused on employment for people with disabilities, I routinely have the privilege of visiting places that are doing some remarkable work to advance the issue. My travels of late took me to two notable college campuses: Edinboro University, just outside of Erie, PA, which has committed to excellence in accommodations for students with disabilities; and Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in upstate New York, which has dedicated itself to helping students with disabilities access jobs upon graduation, better ensuring their long-term economic security.

Smart companies are always looking for new ways to find and retain talented employees. Often-overlooked prospects are people with disabilities. Just 19% of people with disabilities participate in the labor force (compared with over 68% of the rest of the population) and their unemployment rate is nearly 11%.

Events

Exclusive to members of the NOD Corporate Leadership Council! Join a discussion of how raising awareness of the talents employee with disabilities can increase overall employee engagement, help attract diverse talent, increase self-ID rates, and advance inclusion within your company and beyond.

Join NOD leaders for a first look into the results from the 2018 Disability Employment Tracker™, NOD’s free and confidential benchmarking survey, to learn about emerging trends in disability and veteran employment practices.

Exclusive to members of the NOD Corporate Leadership Council! Our annual executive luncheon featuring a panel in partnership with The NYC LGBT Community Center, exploring how creating a workplace culture that allows employees to bring all aspects of their identity builds a stronger, more productive workforce.

Exclusive to NOD Corporate Leadership Council members! Join corporate leaders for a discussion of new frontiers in disability employment. This full-day event is hosted by Corporate Leadership Council member Northrop Grumman.

Exclusive to members of the NOD Corporate Leadership Council! Join us for a conversation on emerging practices to support veterans in the workplace. Featuring Marcus A. Williams, Military & Individuals with Disabilities, Talent Strategy Programs Leader, Kaiser Permanente.